No more city nitpicking on review process

Streamlining a thicket that robs New York of housing, jobs and revenue.

Building in this city is expensive. Always will be. Land? They aren't making much of it anymore, we hear—not since Battery Park City, anyway. Labor and construction costs? Sky high. Engineering? Complex, typically. Community opposition? Inevitable.

But the city's own agencies should not contribute to this collection of cost drivers. Unfortunately, they have long done so.

The Bloomberg administration's unusually powerful planning commissioner, Amanda Burden, was known during her 12-year tenure for demanding that projects meet her exacting design standards. She insisted on modifications that ranged from the shape of a proposed skyscraper to the plantings on its perimeter. Developers even switched architects in their attempts to appeal to Ms. Burden, who had an excellent eye but rarely seemed sensitive to costs.

Between Ms. Burden's meticulousness and the understaffing at her agency, developers could only guess at how long it would take to get the review process started: a year if they were lucky, maybe three if they weren't. If there's one thing builders hate more than uncertainty, it's delay. When projects drag on, the meter keeps running on loan interest, consulting expenses, legal fees and design costs.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration is pushing to make the process more efficient and navigable. Ms. Burden's successor, longtime real estate executive and development consultant Carl Weisbrod, says City Planning is now willing to certify project applications that are technically complete, thus starting the seven-month review, even if some elements might trigger objections along the way. Perhaps even more important: The mayor's proposed budget funds a 13% increase in City Planning staff.

Mr. Weisbrod has also spelled out more clearly what is expected of projects so developers won't have to redesign them as often. Technology upgrades are also in the works, although the agency is still behind the times

(it will be a while yet before applications can be submitted electronically).

Streamlining the process will save developers a bundle. They won't be able to keep it all—the mayor will ask them to plow some into affordable housing—but builders want to build, not twist in the wind while paying bankers. The city stands to gain not only housing and jobs, but also tax revenue, as projects come online faster. The administration's effort could be a win all around.